ScribblingSandy

ScribblingSandy, 1 day ago to random

Feeling a bit fragile today.

Trying to keep it together in order to get through the work day, but there is much stuff I just can't manage at the moment. Like, my flat is a complete mess, and I hate it, but I just don't have enough energy left.

Also, this year I'll likely miss the rhodendron blooming at the camping site.

ScribblingSandy, 1 day ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub - Do you format as you write or do that at the end?

I tend to write the first draft on my Alphasmart or Neo and then import the whole manuscript into a text document with the relevant formatting I'll later use for the ebook.

So from the second draft onward, I'm working with a properly formatted document.

ScribblingSandy, 2 days ago to random

A little trip to my favorite reconstructed Roman auxiliary fort, which held its annual Roman food festival. I tried Roman beer, had eggs with pine nut sauce, apricots with mint, bread with moretum (a mixture of cheese, garlic, and herbs); paid a visit to the shaving knife that will play a role in one of the upcoming Maius & Caomh stories, and a visit to the face pot that is perfect for Damianus - and then, after a mere hour and a half at the fort, the fatigue set in and I had to leave for home

ScribblingSandy, 4 days ago to random

#PennedPossibilities — MC POV: Where did you grow up? What was your childhood like there?

Alfie: I grew up on the Endsleigh estate down in Dorset, and even after my father inherited the earldom, my parents chose to remain there. The house is comfortable & compact with none of the big show rooms you find at other grand estates. We've never had a ball at Endsleigh, instead, when my parents host a small party, we roll up the carpet in the sitting room and somebody sits down at the piano.

1/2

ScribblingSandy, 4 days ago to random

#PennedPossibilities What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?

I just need my Alphasmart (or these days, my Neo by Alphasmart) or a note pad (DinA5, dotted). ☺️

Plus a cup of tea and character portraits (if I created them).

ScribblingSandy, 4 days ago to random

#WordWeavers Day 18 - What kind of dragon (behavior or looks) would your MC be?

Alfie would be very much an Elliot (from Pete's Dragon).

And John would like to point out that they already have a crocodile greataunt with a basilisk glare in the story, so they really don't need any dragon, thank you very much.

Alfie, brightening up: We've got a statue of St. George and the dragon in the maze at home.

John: Are you talking about the house with the sheep bone terrace?

Alfie, beaming: Yep ☺️

ScribblingSandy, 6 days ago to bookstodon

Hey @romancelandia and @bookstodon - I've got a cover reveal for you! :blobcatpeek: My historical romance Springtime Pleasures has got a brandnew cover! I hope you like it!

In celebration of the new cover, the novel is currently on sale for just 99 cents! Grab your copy here:
https://buy.bookfunnel.com/avwi2wh6th

ScribblingSandy, 7 days ago to random

One of the things about having a lingering / chonic illness I was really not prepared for is the way some people will suggest that you're simply not doing enough to get better.

Like, WTF? Really, WTF?!?

ScribblingSandy, 12 days ago to random

#PennedPossibilities - MC or SC POV: What was your favorite day or holiday when you were a child?

Alfie:
I loved those weeks in summer that we spent at Lymfort Hall.

The house is a bit dark inside and could do with a brightening up, that's true, but the gardens are splendid! Especially the walled gardens with the fruit trees (SO MANY gooseberries!)!

I loved roving over the estate with my siblings, even if the garden follies are far less adventurous than those at Endsleigh. ☺️

#AlfieAndJohn

ScribblingSandy, 14 days ago to random

#PennedPossibilities — What is one place your characters want to visit?

Alfie would like to return to Lymfort Hall, his father's main estate and the one his father utterly detests due to the bad memories he has of the place. Alfie, by contrast, is not haunted by a traumatic past connected to the house and sees the potential of the place.

John is just happy to be where Alfie is. ☺️

#AlfieAndJohn

ScribblingSandy, 15 days ago to random

#WordWeavers Who is your most fun character?

In the current WIP? The greataunt with the basilisk glare and the crocodile smile. 🐊 She is acerbic, is as rich as Croesus, doesn't suffer fools lightly, and has a kind heart.

In my two Victorian novellas, she is keeping my MCs on their toes, and just like in Springtime Pleasures, where she made her first appearance as the hero's aunt, she helps to facilitate the happy ending (esp. in Reunion on a Winter Night!)

#HistoricalRomance

ScribblingSandy, 21 days ago to random

#wordweavers May 1: Introduce your setting as if it’s a character in your story.

Imagine a small village - no, not even a village, a handful of houses clustered around a railway station, and a small hotel in the middle of the countryside. The station, the houses, the hotel are all brandnew, built just a couple of years back when the London-Southampton line was built.

At the moment, everything is covered with a thick layer of snow, and a deserted train stands at the station.

#AlfieAndJohn

ScribblingSandy, 22 days ago to bookstodon

Happy memories from 2005: The first ever picture of me and my debut novel, The Lily Brand

#bookstodon
@bookstodon

ScribblingSandy, 24 days ago to random

Today's #PennedPossibilities prompt and @pretensesoup 's answer to it made me think about whether Alfie should wear spectacles. His mother does, and moreover, eye problems are something that shows up in twins, doesn't it?

Alfie with fogged-up spectacles?

Also, I'm happy to report that I found out after which English country house I originally modelled Endsleigh Hall eleven years ago. Only the map of the grounds I drew up back then remains elusive...

#AlfieAndJohn

ScribblingSandy, 25 days ago to random

#WordWeavers - Do you have an irrepressibly good-humoured character? How do others react to them?

Not in my Victorian WIPs, but there is always Damianus from Gladiator's Passion (and there will be a few more Roman stories in the future!). Damianus is basically a Golden Retriever in human form. 😊

ScribblingSandy, 26 days ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub - Do you write standalone stories, series, or both? Which do you prefer?

I started out writing standalone novels, then tried my hand at series because series was / is the way to go, but looking at my Roman series, I'm probably pretty sh*te at writing series because after getting the first 2 books done according to plan, the plan started to sideways, I eventually unpublished one of the two books, and now I'm writing this series backwards and outwards. :blobcatpeek:

1/2

ScribblingSandy, 26 days ago to random

#WordWeavers - Who's blaming who in your story?

The weather, obvs. If it hadn't snowed so much, the trees wouldn't have come down across the line and across the street and nobody would have become stuck in the little hotel across from Andover Road Station.

And John and Alfie would not have met, and Will and Nell would not have met again, and nobody's life would have changed forevermore.

It was the snow. :blobcatcozytea:

ScribblingSandy, 28 days ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 25: Do you add a message from the author to your work?

I always put an Author's Note in my books, and this is where I talk about my research for the story, list some of the most important research works, and end with a round of thanks. I typically put the Author's Note at the end, but in some cases (anachronistic wild boars in Springtime Pleasures and Roman military terms in Gladiator's Passion), I've put an additional shorter note at the beginning of a book.

ScribblingSandy, 29 days ago to random

Long Covid is kicking my butt this week. Nearly didn't make it home yesterday because I was overcome by exhaustion. 😞

ScribblingSandy, 29 days ago to random

#PennedPossibilities 294 — What, to you, are the most important elements of good writing?

When I think of the authors whose work I most admire - Roaemary Sutcliff and Dorothy Dunnett -, then I'd say the ability to create compelling characters and vivid settings. In addition, both Sutcliff and Dunnett were excellent at bringing the past to life, and Sutcliff in particular had a knack of creating these small timeless moments that stay with you for many years after reading her books.

ScribblingSandy, 29 days ago to random

Good morning, lovely tooting friends! ☀️ May your day be filled with joy!

ScribblingSandy, 1 month ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub - Do you agree with Rose Tremain, who said you shouldn't plan a book's ending; it must be earned?

Earned by whom??? By the author? By the story? By the characters??

Anyway, it's not how I plan my stories: I see all of them as a film first (often several times) before I start writing. So even if I don't do a proper outline (or mindmap - a mindmap is better, really), I have a plan for the story. It might change a little during the writing process itself, but not much.

ScribblingSandy, 1 month ago to random

The online supermarket where I buy most of my groceries is running a sale on cakes.

I repeat: Cake is on sale! This is not a drill!!!

(This is actually the perfect excuse to try a slice of cake I haven't had before.)

ScribblingSandy, 1 month ago to random

New installment of the newsletter has been sent to subscribers' inboxes.

I had a lot of fun with this week's "A Bit of Punch" because I could repurpose a couple of paragraphs from an article about Richard Doyle's sequential art in Punch (the Victorian magazine) I wrote back in 2012/13 for the proceedings of an academic conference. I LOVE it when I can repurpose my academic research and share it with more people!!! :blobcatbigfan:

ScribblingSandy, 1 month ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 16 - Have you ever started a chapter with a quote or a poem? How do you feel about the idea?

I love the concept, and in The Lily Brand, I put quotes from Tennyson's The Day Dream at the beginning of the larger parts of the novel (rather than at the beginning of each chapter).

In Springtime Pleasures, I used old-fashioned descriptive chapter summaries at the beginning.of each chapter and had the best fun with that!